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Forked River Brewing Co.’s pale ale is being added to the shelves of 10 London-area LCBO stores.

“This is a pretty big step for us,” said Dave Reed, a partner at the brewery.

Up to now, Forked River beer was only available at the company’s brewery on Pacific Court, and on tap.

The company’s LCBO listing means Riptide Rye Pale Ale is being sold at the stores. Reed hopes it will soon be followed by Forked River’s Capital Blonde Ale that took home a gold medal at the Canadian Brewery Awards in Fredericton in June.

“There aren’t a lot of new breweries that in their first year list with the LCBO,” he said.

Forked River began brewing beer in June 2013. Its monthly output is the equivalent of 14,000 bottles, mostly in kegs, and the LCBO listing will boost production by 3,000 bottles, he said.

“The sales and customer response have been so strong.”

The first delivery was made on a recent Thursday and by early the following week, more beer was needed, he said.

Paul Wright, a sales associate at the LCBO store on York St., said many customers are asking for Forked River beer.

“I think because it’s local for one and now it’s convenient. Their brewery is now in the east end and people have not wanted to drive out there.”

The company began talking with the LCBO after Reed and other partners attended a craft beer conference that included a session on how to sell into the LCBO.

It took six months to get beer on the shelves.

“It was a lot of paperwork . . ., label reviews on things like font size and French language, and we had to do product testing,” Reed said.

Though the blonde and pale ales are what the brewery is known for, it occasionally makes other batches of beer it sells from its brewery. At one point, it had more than 20 different flavours.

The craft beer market is one of the fastest growing segments for the LCBO, and it was happy to add Fork River, the LCBO’s Lisa Murray said.

“It’s about being supportive of micro breweries, it’s making sure people appreciate the quality and diversity of products in our ­province.”​